Periparturient cows refusing feed with rumen motility lost: beware of fatty liver

    Raising pigs in warm sheds in winter can lead to fatty liver. Periparturient cows with fatty liver have insufficient bile secretion due to liver dysfunction, which affects digestive function; at the same time, they are prone to secondary diseases such as retained placenta, parturient paresis, and endometritis, thereby affecting milk production, fertility, and immunity of affected cows. The incidence is highest in cows aged 5 to 9 years, and low in first-calf cows.  

Dairy cows

    Causes: improper feeding and management. After calving, sugar and other nutrients in the cow's body are continuously excreted with milk. If nutrition is not supplemented in time, a negative energy balance occurs, and the cow must mobilize body fat reserves to provide energy for tissues. Because too much free fatty acid enters the liver or because the affected cow has low blood sugar, the liver tissue's ability to clear very-low-density lipoprotein declines, obstructing the process of protein export from the liver and forming fatty liver. Feeding too much concentrate can also cause this disease. 

    Endocrine dysfunction: affected by pregnancy, calving, lactation, and other factors, the pituitary and adrenal glands of dairy cows are overburdened. Due to adrenal insufficiency, gluconeogenesis decreases, and the rumen's utilization of glycogen is impaired, lowering blood sugar and causing disease. After calving, protein-bound iodine in dairy cows decreases significantly, causing thyroid insufficiency, which can also lead to fatty liver. 

    Effects of other secondary diseases. Some wasting diseases of dairy cows, such as rumen atony, traumatic reticuloperitonitis, abomasal displacement, osteomalacia, parturient paresis, and other chronic infectious diseases, can all secondarily cause fatty liver.  

    Symptoms: affected cows refuse concentrate and silage, and may develop pica; the body becomes emaciated, subcutaneous fat disappears, and skin elasticity weakens. Feces are dry and hard, and in severe cases loose feces occur. Sick cows are moderately depressed, unwilling to move or eat, and sometimes have mild abdominal pain. Generally, body temperature, pulse, and respiration are normal, and rumen motility is weakened; when the course is long, rumen motility disappears. If severe fatty liver in dairy cows is not treated promptly and correctly, they can die from excessive weakness or poisoning and other accompanying diseases; those with mild to moderate fatty liver can self-heal in about 1.5 months, but milk production cannot fully recover, and immunity and fertility are affected.  

    Prevention and treatment methods: 

 
    Strengthen feeding and management, and supply nutrition reasonably. For cows during pregnancy, the amount of concentrate fed should be appropriately reduced to avoid excessive fatness before calving; the pregnancy diet should contain sufficient cobalt, phosphorus, and iodine, and exercise should be appropriately increased in late pregnancy; for postpartum cows, care should be strengthened, diet palatability improved, and concentrate gradually increased to avoid a negative energy balance caused by postpartum lactation and other factors. At the same time, gastrointestinal diseases affecting digestion and absorption should be treated promptly. 

    Glucose injection treatment. Intravenously inject 500 milliliters of 50% glucose solution once a day for 4 consecutive days as one course. Intraperitoneal injection of 1000 milliliters of 20% glucose solution can also be used. At the same time, intramuscularly inject 20 milligrams of betamethasone, and orally give 250 milliliters of propylene glycol or glycerol with feed twice a day for 2 consecutive days. Then change to 110 milliliters per day for another 3 days, with better results. 

    Oral nicotinic acid and choline. Starting 14 days before calving, supplement each dairy cow daily with 8 grams of nicotinic acid, 80 grams of choline chloride, and 60 grams of cellulase. If combined with intravenous injection of high-concentration glucose solution, the effect is better.